Perry’s opponents have been trying to make an issue of an incident in the early 1990s’ when Perry was a Wareham police sargent, one of the officers reporting to him was involved in a questionable strip search of a 14 year old girl. But Perry is currently polling a very strong 45% favorable, and only 3% unfavorable showing that the story has not gained much traction.

Primaries are generally less contentious than general elections, and its possible that criticism of Perry may become more vicious in the general.

While the incident is troubling, and the officer involved received a 4 year prison sentence, Perry was not directly involved – neither participating or having directly witnessed it. This poll shows that voters may think that attempts to tie Perry to the incident is unfair. So a candidate who tries to push this issue may find that it backfires.

Perry has been polling extremely well in a number of Republican “straw polls”.

In a Plymouth County GOP straw poll in June Perry received 59% of the vote in a field of 8 candidates.

In the Cape Cod Republican Club straw poll Perry received 95%

Perry won another straw polls by the Sandwich Republican Town Committee

Candidate’s Online Presence

Both Malone and Perry have been running strong well run campaigns. But Perry seems to be consolidating the majority of early Republican support on the internet. Perry has 2,800 facebook friends to Malone’s 712. He has a lead on twitter as well ( 627 to Malone’s 116). His strategy of organizing activists with his “Perry’s Patriots” site has gathered 437 members to date.

Both Perry and Malone’s internet strategies are leading John O’Leary by a large margin. O’Leary has gathered only 541 facebook friends, and 85 twitter followers.

Why is Perry Doing So Well?

The 10th Congressional District has been trending strongly toward Republican candidates in recent years, voting for Scott Brown with 70% of the vote. Sot it’s not surprising that both Republicans are doing well here.

Perry has a number of basic social advantages: he’s younger, better looking and a better speaker than his competitors. His speaking style is clear, easy to understand and inspirational.

But there are issues that resonate with voters as well. Both Malone and Perry have clear messages that resonate with voters: on jobs, the economy, health care reform, and political reform.

O’Leary has not been able yet to articulate a clear message on these issues. His message so far has a top line of the environment, supporting cape wind, and his work with non-profits. These are things that many voters will view positively – but they are not among voters main concerns this election cycle.

Between Malone and Perry, Perry has just been able to get his message out better and faster than Malone.

Perry has one other advantage: Like Scott Brown, he is a long time supporter of Father’s Rights issues. He is currently a co-sponsor of both H1400 the Shared Parenting bill, and H1785 the Alimony Reform bill. Perry has been a leader on these issues for several years running, and the very active supporters of these popular bills are coming out for him over Malone who has so far been silent on them. O’Leary is a supporter of Shared Parenting as well.

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